


O Formose Puer

by Rucksack (wingblade)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Modern Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7786603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingblade/pseuds/Rucksack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terra's loneliness has been creeping up on him for months now. Despite being unable to call out for help — even from his best friend — one of Terra's neighbors offers a mutually beneficial solution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Denique

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackpaopu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackpaopu/gifts).



> I've always had the first chapter's title listed in drafts as "Denique," which can mean "finally," which sums everything up, really. The story ended up a lot longer than I expected, so I split it into chapters...and then split those chapters. And again. Reading long portions of my own writing for editing makes me very sleepy. I probably need an editor.
> 
> I'll try to have the next part up today or tomorrow. I love writing, but I get sleepy a lot, so just...throw things at me, or something.
> 
> References to Vergil's Eclogues are abundant. Poetry is cool. Latin is cool. Can you tell I like Latin yet?

To Terra, having an alarm clock at all would be pointless if it hadn’t been a well-intended gift from a dear friend. Every morning, he wakes up grumpy from its shrills and shrieks, but then he slams on the snooze button so many times that even his alarm clock gives up on him eventually.

 _Just like everyone else_ , Terra thinks, but then he remembers Aqua, his childhood friend, and how she always used to scold him when he was negative like this. He amends his thoughts: _Not Aqua, then. Never Aqua_.

His best friend had even been the one to give him the alarm clock back in high school. Terra was always late; the only reason he was never kicked off of the cross country track team was because he had been the best runner. Fierce, competitive, loyal — a force to be reckoned with, both in and out of races. But even his sports scholarship hadn’t been enough to put him through college.

Terra stood with Aqua at the train station until the train carting her off to a faraway university had arrived. They held hands and Terra tried to show her he could be strong, for her sake. She calls every week, so sometimes he wonders if she saw through the act.

Aqua had been Terra’s reason to be strong; the reason he kept fighting. And now that she’s gone, he smashes his alarm clock into oblivion for yet another day and sleeps in for hours.

Terra can’t tear himself out of bed before dawn, and it’s not until the sky is a bright blue that he can crack open his eyes at all. He takes a five minute shower and makes an egg sandwich to eat on his way out. Being so late, he relaxes; he can stand to be a little more-so. It’s around the time when all of the kids and adolescents in his apartment building are heading out to school. He shrugs on his jacket — the tan one with the fur-trimmed hood — and makes his way down the spiraling stairs.

At ground level, near the mailboxes, there’s a small playground. While his landlord may be a slumlord, at least he’s thoughtful of the kids. Just like everyday, Terra doesn’t stop to marvel at the structures, but he does make eye-contact with the boy who always seems to be there on Terra’s way to work. Today, he’s sitting on the swing set, clutching the chains with his hands. He looks up, and — like everyday — his blue eyes seem to be pleading. Excited, maybe; perhaps a little curious. Terra forces a small smile, but continues on. He tries not to think about how cold it is, or how it’s supposed to storm later, and how the kid isn’t wearing a coat.

He misses the next bus, of course, and is beyond late. His boss tells him that if he wakes up late again, he should just not come in. All day there’s a cold, stony expression on Terra's face because the fact that he won’t have a job in the morning is never far from his mind. He needs this job, but he needed the last one, too, and the one before it, and the one before that. The town isn’t small by any means, but there are only so many employers who are willing to take a chance on someone without any references. The only one he trusts to be the right amount of honest is Aqua. The only one he trusts at all, really, is Aqua.

Nearly twelve hours later, he’s on a bus heading home. The bus is so full he can’t sit down, and he's left grasping at one of the bars hanging above the seats. The sky outside is so dark; looking out the windows, the only things he can make out are streetlamps and the bright lights emanating off of the buildings themselves. It’s claustrophobic, but it’s no worse than the alternative, which would be having to look down or around him — at another _person_. Sometimes he’ll see his reflection in the glare of the window. He looks tired — his shoulders are so slumped, he looks half as strong and proud as he once had — and angry, because there’s a sense of helplessness he could never admit to, not even to Aqua.

When he finally unlocks the door to his apartment after trudging through the rain, his couch looks more inviting than it ever has — or should. Even the floor where he stands — rain-soaked coat and muddy boots having already mucked up the place — looks tempting. But what he knows, maybe more than anything, is how tired he is. He’s so tired he wishes he could lie down and close his eyes, and that would be it. He would never wake up, and it’d be like he never existed. Aqua would miss him, but Aqua is strong — much stronger than he is, that’s for sure.

Thinking of her — missing her laugh; her smile — he knows he can’t fall asleep. Not now, and maybe not ever. Lying down is out of the question, and he’s not sure how he’ll manage to sit without passing out. In the fridge are some energy drinks from when he used to work out everyday — natural stuff, but there are cheaper options at the store that’ll make his teeth rot and liver fail. But what’s the point of having nice teeth and a healthy liver, he wonders, if he’s the only one he has to support himself, and he’s unable to? He decides to pick up some of the cheaper energy drinks tomorrow after work, if he can manage, or — and the thought shocks him into laughter — maybe even _before_ work. He’ll be awake, so why not?

For now, he takes out the various fruit juices and flips over the couch so he won’t be able to lie down. It’s an extreme measure, but he’s not willing to take the risk otherwise. He lines the bottles up next to him — from tallest to shortest — and pops a movie into his DVD player. Every movie he owns is from one bargain bin or another; he and Aqua used to buy the ones with the strangest looking covers, then watch the movies back at her house. And then, he remembers, he would sleep.


	2. Huc Ades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost six in the morning. Look at me go go.

Terra’s doing okay so far. After two movies, he even went out for a quick jog. Another movie will probably be enough to tide him over until work, but the names on all of the cases are starting to blur. Grabbing the nearest one from his unwatched pile, he rolls his eyes at being unable to skip the trailers for movies he’ll most likely never see. But the movie ends up having quite a few musical scenes, and he sings along to them, learning the lyrics along the way.

When he checks his cell phone for the time, he’s amazed to see it’s a quarter to five in the morning. He‘s made it. As a reward, he takes an extra long shower and eats a decent breakfast for once: more of his beloved egg sandwiches, with a bowl of cereal, toast, and a glass of soy milk to wash it all down.

On his way out, he’s nearly laughing at everything: the wind, the sky, the ground — himself, most of all. It’s difficult to contain, and thus he learns quickly to bite his lip.

The kid is on the playground again, but much closer this time. He’s sitting on the roundabout, and Terra is so giddy from his lack of sleep that he has to wave. This simple gesture may turn out to be this morning's undoing as the kid smiles back and trots over. He explains how his name is Ventus, but Terra should call him Ven.

“Wow, you sure do look tired,” Ven says, raising his arms a little as if to touch Terra’s face, but stops. “What’s your name?”

“Terra." He pauses. "And now I have a question for _you_ : how are you always up so early?” It’s the first question that pops into his head, but the question itself isn’t that important. Outside of his boss yelling at him for being late, this is the first conversation he’s had with anyone since Aqua called last week.

“Hmm...morning person?” There’s a sad glint to Ven’s eyes that say otherwise. Terra opens his mouth — not to question; merely to reply — but Ven continues: “Well, okay. My parents sort of fight a lot.”

Terra instinctively murmurs, “I’m sorry,” but Ven smiles at him.

“I have a brother. His name is Roxas,” Ven chirps. “He looks just like me. Maybe you've met him?”

“Does he? No, I don’t think I have.” Terra doesn’t mean to  sound condescending — he’s not exactly interested in how this guy has a brother, but he really wants to keep talking — but, again, Ven smiles up at him so brightly. Terra wants him to talk and talk until he fades away into nothing. He’s so kind and utterly pleasant, Terra can’t help but feel drawn to his presence, seeing as how he himself tends to be exact opposite.

“I can help you, you know,” Ven is saying. “If you want, I mean. You’re always late, right?”

Terra doesn’t ask how he could tell. He nods. “Right.”

“Well, morning person; not-so morning person. I could be your...rooster.”

“My rooster,” Terra repeats. He’s not sure how Ven — who turns out to be eighteen and a senior in high school — could be able to wake him up. The fact that Terra might be able to sleep tonight is an unbelievable, refreshing thought, but is he really willing to put everything on the line for this guy?

 _Yes_ , Terra thinks. Maybe he is. Ven — who won’t tell Terra his rooster plan, whose brother is actually his twin. Ven — who’s been so quiet for the weeks and months Terra has passed by him, and who by now Terra has decided is the sweetest person he has ever met.

Terra asks, “How am I supposed to repay you?”

“You could buy me ice cream,” Ven suggests. “And help me with my homework...when you have time.”

Moving his gaze to the ground, Ven begins shuffling his feet. Even without this obvious sign, Terra can see that’s not all he’s after — Terra can already tell Ven is clever and perceptive, from the way he was able to see his problem so easily — but what can he do? After agreeing on a time for the next morning, Terra bids him farewell and catches the bus to work.

He doesn’t stop at the market to buy energy drinks, after all.


End file.
